


The Phone

by Val9000



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Barry Becomes A Detective At The Local Coffee Shop More At Twelve, M/M, Not an actual detective but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 13:51:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15996527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val9000/pseuds/Val9000
Summary: Barry finds someone's phone while at the coffee shop and tries to figure out who it belongs to so he can give it back. And hey. Maybe it'll belong to that hot guy with the leather jacket.





	The Phone

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! If you want to drop some prompts down in the comments I'll be happy to try and write them. You can ask for characters involved, ships involved (I usually stick to Hal/Barry but you might be able to convince me to write some other ships), what genre and how seriously I write it. I hope you enjoy this fic!

Barry isn’t even sure how the phone ended up in his possession. One minute he only had to worry about his own phone and the next there’s another in his hand. He turns it over, inspecting it – trying to look for any identifiable features. The case is plain so that’s barely any help to him but might be useful if he turns it in. He looks around the coffee shop but doesn’t see anyone frantically trying to find their phone, so he places it on the table in plain sight so that hopefully the owner of the phone will walk past and see it. Then all he’ll need to do is hastily explain that, no, he wasn’t stealing it – that’s why it’s on the table.

He leaves it alone for all of two seconds before it’s in his hand again and he turns it on. Maybe the lock screen will have a picture of the owner and then he can use that to find them. His hopes are quickly dashed when all he can see is a picture of a plane. A plane? Seriously? It’s not one of the commercial ones either. Which means this person probably works with planes. He looks around the coffee shop again to see if he can find someone who fits the stereotype of working with planes. That guy in the leather jacket maybe? Not enough evidence to approach him though. He puts the phone down again.

It takes another minute of staring at the phone before it lights up, making him jump. There’s a message. Which he shouldn’t look at, right? Right.

But… it would help him find out who the person is. Before he can fully give himself a lecture on how wrong it is to breach this person’s privacy the phone is in his hand again. It’s from someone called Ollie. Something about whether he’ll make it to Star City before he leaves again. It doesn’t really make much sense to Barry but that’s probably because he doesn’t have any context. If only he could get a name. Then he’d have a better chance.

Barry puts the phone down and looks back at the man in the leather jacket. He kind of hopes it’s him. Purely because then he’d be right and not because the guy is kind of hot. Really hot. Whatever. He goes back to staring at the phone as if the answer to his problem will suddenly appear. Which it could – if this Ollie person keeps texting.

He should just hand it in to the coffee shop. They could make an announcement and then he wouldn’t have to worry about it.

There’s something exciting about this situation though. He really doesn’t want to hand the phone in. Especially if it belongs to the hot guy in the leather jacket because then there’ll be a reason for them to talk. Or something.

Barry tears his eyes away from the phone at that thought. He’s not that pathetic, is he? He’s going to hand it in. He picks up the phone and fully intends to stand up and walk over to the counter and put on his nicest voice and hand the phone in.

Instead he finds himself still sitting and with the phone unlocked in his hand. What kind of a dumbass doesn’t put a lock on their phone? Is his first thought. This is a massive invasion of privacy. Comes next. He stares at the home screen which is another picture of a plane. But maybe if he looks through the photos he might be able to find out what the owner looks like.

On the other hand, how is he supposed to explain how he knew who owned the phone? He locks it and puts it down on the table again. That man is moving to get his food and drink and Barry panics. What if he was right? What if that man is going to walk out the door and he’ll never see him again so he’ll never be able to give him back his phone? He calms down considerably when he notices the man sitting down. Okay. Invasion of privacy here we go.

Barry hesitates before clicking on the photos app. Only for about a split second though. He first notices how many pictures of planes there are – all seemingly different but in the same area. Definitely works with planes then. There’s some photos of a guy who definitely isn’t currently in the coffee shop. Maybe it’s Ollie? He doesn’t need to scroll back too far before he reaches a photo with that guy from the other photos and the guy in the leather jacket. Even if he didn’t recognise the face (the lighting was kind of poor and it was a bit blurry) he recognises the jacket immediately. Barry erases all evidence of having been on the phone and places it back down in front of him.

Now he knows who’s phone it is. But how is he going to get that man to realise it’s gone without looking like a creep? One problem solved, another one created. He very obviously puts the phone down. Even going so far as to drop it a little so it makes a clattering sound. It’s barely heard over the babble of people talking though and even so he doesn’t think it’d be enough for the man to consider that Barry has his phone.

Barry’s coffee is cold by the time he takes a sip from it and he decides that, maybe he should order another. And maybe – just maybe – while he’s there he could hand the phone in. It would make the most sense. The guy will probably ask him why he didn’t do it and then he’ll have to try and explain why and that will be fairly unpleasant. So he orders another coffee, puts on his nicest voice and hands in the phone. He decides to think nothing further of it as he sits down with his new, hot coffee. He definitely doesn’t watch out of the corner of his eye as the man makes his way to the counter to claim the phone. He definitely doesn’t watch as the man chats with the barista for a couple of seconds before making his way back to his seat.

And apparently he literally wasn’t watching because next thing he knows the man is sitting in front of him. He blinks in surprise.

“So,” the man grins, “you’re the one who handed in my phone?”

“Yep. That’s me.” And Barry’s apparently back to being in denial because he’s definitely not blushing. 

“Well,” and what’s with this man and drawing out his sentences? With his smile widening in the pauses? “I’d buy you a coffee in thanks but it seems like you’ve already got one.”

Oh. That’s what’s with the grins.

“Uh. Yeah. Sorry.” Barry is way too floored by the fact that this conversation is happening that it’s really all he can think to reply with. It makes the man laugh at least. There’s a voice in his head yelling “what the fuck!” And he’s not exactly sure which part of this situation it’s yelling at. Probably all of it. 

“I’m Hal. And you are?”

“Barry. It’s nice to meet you.” Barry’s at least glad that while his brain doesn’t work he’s still able to carry a conversation. 

“Nice to meet you too.”

And Barry may not be the best at reading people but Hal’s flirting with him, right? Maybe? Hal’s looking at him like Barry would expect him to look at someone prettier and, well, more female. Maybe he’s just like that with everyone though. Maybe Barry’s reading too much into it. It’s best not to get his hopes up. 

“Well since you’ve already got a coffee, maybe I could buy you one some other time? As thanks for handing in my phone.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Please, I insist.”

“Okay… sure.”

Hal’s smile seems to grow wider when he accepts his invitation. Barry’s heart is beating double time because why the fuck is someone like Hal asking him on a date? Hal looks like one of the boys that would bully Barry in school. He has that look… but there’s something about him that doesn’t give off the same vibe. Barry’s not sure what and he’s not exactly going to complain right now. Not when Hal is asking for his phone so they can exchange phone numbers and figure out the date. The date. This is a date, right?

Hal’s laugh is the only indication that he said that out loud.

“If you want it to be.” The sentence is punctuated with a wink and yeah okay. Barry’s not complaining.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! If you want to drop some prompts down in the comments I'll be happy to try and write them. You can ask for characters involved, ships involved (I usually stick to Hal/Barry but you might be able to convince me to write some other ships), what genre and how seriously I write it. I hope you enjoyed this fic! Thanks for reading.


End file.
